How International Travel Prepared Me for Motherhood

Here's how those 12-16 hour flights to Asia gave me endurance for motherhood:

"Sleeping" on a plane and sharing a bed with sick children are similar. Said "Sleeping" is more like being on standby, rather than actual shut down mode which would equal rest. Unmoving in tight, cramped, uncomfortable contortions is not conducive to any meaningful rest.

Similarities include some or all of the following: 

•  Space Restrictions

• A child/children/seatmate(s) wedged into your very limited personal space

• Physical Obstructions

• A seat arm/stranger's elbow/plastic toy wedged in your ribs/back/kidney
• A face/foot/knee/elbow in your face, implausibly wherever you move your face

• Poor Air Quality

• Hot breath/snoring/stinky flatulence permeating your vicinity

•  Just as you doze off your child/children/seatmate will move and wake you up about every 5-10 minutes for 6-8 hours. Someone WILL cry or mumble incoherently.
• Getting up to use the bathroom is a major athletic event that will require the delicately synchronized cooperation of several individuals

 When the flight/nighttime slumberfest ends and deboarding/debedding process begins, the overwhelming relief and freedom of movement can be exquisite. Celebratory even!   Vertebrae will pop happily back into place. Stretching is blissful. There looms the delicious anticipation of hot showers and hot coffee to rinse away the accumulated grime of travel and/or sweaty sleeplessness. You've groggily arrived at your destination and can now exhaustedly carry on with the rest of your day!